LVCS approves creation of electronic sports team, drops STOPit app
The Las Vegas City Schools board approved the adoption of a competitive video game team at its regular meeting Thursday night.
Recognized by the New Mexico Activities Association, the school-sanctioned activity known as “e-sports” pits a team of video game players from one school against other schools across the state. The best-performing teams will even compete for a state championship title.
For now, the program will only be implemented at Robertson High School. Unlike participants in regular sports, such as basketball or football, e-sports competitors do not travel to play other teams. Instead, they compete from a school’s computer lab, unless they make it to the state championship, which will be held in Albuquerque.
While e-sports teams don’t share the travel needs of athletic programs, according to City Schools’ Director of IT John Tiernan, e-sports teams do share some similarities with traditional sports teams, like team uniforms and regular practices.
The board’s adoption of an e-sports program did not pass without opposition, however, as it passed by a 4-1 vote.
Board member Leroy Lujan said he could not support the idea.
“I think the kids, nowadays, are getting so much into social media and gaming, that it’s taking away from face-to-face interaction,” Lujan said.
Lujan stated he might change his opinion if there were evidence that e-sports programs helped students get into other programs like STEM.
Gabriel Garcia, a teacher at Robertson who will coach the new e-sports team, defended the program, telling the board that e-sports can indeed generate more interest in STEM.
“One of the benefits that’s shown is kids having a bigger interest in STEM and science programs because it actually goes into game development and the computer science of software development,” Garcia said. “It gets students involved that don’t particularly have interest in other sports.”
According to Tiernan, e-sports are being adopted by colleges and universities as well, giving high school students the chance to obtain scholarships through e-sports. “They’re recruiting some of the best players to their teams, and offering them full scholarships to go to their schools,” Tiernan said.
Lujan still had objections.
“Where this world is going, where e-sports is coming up at a board meeting to be certified, scares the crap out of me,” Lujan said. “A lot of kids go home and play games by themselves,” Garcia said. “But now we get to monitor, we get to be involved with that activity, and they get to compete at a state level and feel like they’re a part of something.”
While Lujan was the only board member to vote against adopting an e-sports program, he did applaud Tiernan and Garcia for their efforts.
“I appreciate what you guys are doing,” Lujan told them. “This was just a personal opinion from me, but I stand with the board. Thank you guys for doing this for the kids.”
While the board did not discuss the planned use of the anonymous reporting app STOPit, during a recess, Superintendent Cooper told the Optic the district is currently reviewing the idea, and that, at this time, the district is holding off on using the app at RHS.
“Our attorney is looking at it,” Copper said. “There were some concerns about a third party storing student information.”
Cooper said the district will be exploring alternatives to STOPit.
Also on Thursday, the Board discussed the idea of closing campus during lunchtime. Superintendent Cooper proposed the idea as a way to reduce truancy rates and help protect students.
“I’d like the board to consider closely the fact that we still have custodianship of students when they’re leaving for lunch,” Cooper said. “Recently, a couple of our students were involved in an automobile wreck. That’s because they left campus.”
Board member Gloria Lovato-Pacheco suggested the district needs to do more to give students a reason to stay on campus during lunch.
“In order to keep kids on campus, we need to engage them,” Lovato-Pacheco said. “We need to have a cafeteria that not only serves nutritious meals, but appealing meals.”
Cooper said a number of clubs will start meeting at lunchtime, including the chess club and a new computer club.
In other actions Thursday night, the board:
• Congratulated the RHS Red Wave Band, which marched in the New Mexico State Fair and won first place for marching bands.
• Approved the adoption of Policy Advisory 157, which covers staff conduct with students.
• Approved budget adjustment requests for the purchase of a new school bus, money for special education contracts and the repair of a boiler at the transportation and maintenance facility at a cost of $62,747.
• Presented Employee of the Month Awards to recipients for August.
• Mentioned Oct. 18 as the date for the next regular board meeting.
